Visors : any real purpose

How many of you actually wear the visors on your mountain helmets? Do they actually serve a purpose? All I get out o them is a severely limited field of vision and a sore neck. I don't need the sun coverage because I'm wearing shades anyway. Ive taken them off of my last two helmets (a Giro Pneumo and a Cannondale Ryker). Are they more Style than substance or do you guys get a benefit?

For my trails and ride style visors are a yes. I like the visor on morning and evenings, and rainy days. I sit more upright while technical trail riding so no neck problems. I did blame the visor visibility, once, smacking a low limb. On dark roadie commutes I miss having a visor with oncoming headlights but I don't miss the sore neck.

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I may not have the best of everything, but I have the best everything that matters.

Don't touch my visor! I've never even considered taking 'em off. It keeps the elements away (I had a few basal cell carcinomas burned/sliced off my forehead in the 90's), and I've never had any issues with visor-related neck problems; I don't even think about it being there. Also, it's pretty badass when you crash hard enough to break it off. Long live the visor!

I have no style.
Visor on the MTB helmet, no visor on roadie helmet. As mentioned, I sit more upright on MTB so no neck issues. I like for similar reasons, rain drips and sun sets. If I have an evening ride, the way home is west, direct into the sun.

How many of you actually wear the visors on your mountain helmets? Do they actually serve a purpose? All I get out o them is a severely limited field of vision and a sore neck. I don't need the sun coverage because I'm wearing shades anyway. Ive taken them off of my last two helmets (a Giro Pneumo and a Cannondale Ryker). Are they more Style than substance or do you guys get a benefit?

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If it can block something from getting into your eyes (light), it can block your eyes from seeing something.

In all seriousness, if anybody has climbed Stile Ranch Trail at STCP from the Fortini side, during a sunny afternoon, you get blasted. I wear a visorless helmet (because I like the Lazer O2) and there are times I wish I had a visor. But, I only have one helmet for both MTB and CX, so I went with visorless.

When you ride a ton of singletrack like Skeggs or Demo, visors are really not necessary. When you are in the hot, open sun like Sedona or Socal (where bushes are trees), visors are way more useful.

Visors have evolved some. A few of them are now adjustable so you can tilt them up out of the way. And in many cases, they are now half the size. The issue is when you are climbing with the head down in the natural position, the visor blocks the trail.

Visors are more practical for more geographic areas for road bikes. Riders are on the open road with their faces exposed to the sun more. But it will never happen because it won't look good on the road.

Aside from the first point above, visors are meant to make a helmet look cool. On a full-face helmet, it is a faux pax to remove the visor. For the all-mountain, enduro helmet, visors are now standard fare.

So there, it is a fashion statement and it useful in the desert. I have about 8 of them removed in my parts drawer. But I'm sill working on removing that DH visor.

To all of the anti-visor folks, I have one question. Why are you looking up when you ride?

Not sure if this is rhetorical, but "up" is actually forward if you've got a "flat back" (basically, leaning forward heavily). Supposedly you get more power from it, and it's certainly more aero if you're really moving. You'll generally see people with flat bars and/or upside down stems, etc. with a little bit of crane in their neck.

For me I ride like that on my SL but on my Butcher I'm far more upright.

I have a visor on my one helmet that I use for road, gravel, and dirt. It keeps the sun out of my face, which is probably a plus for someone with a history of basal and squamous carcinoma. On top of that, it offers some protection against brush and can be used to block oncoming headlights if you cock your head just-so. Lastly, it sets you apart from the road weenie crowd. Why look like a road weenie when you are hammering gravel or whoop-tee-doing single track?

I use a visor, but probably party cause I think helmets look lame without one.
But when riding motocross stuff before I had a mountain bike found it very helpful when it was really sunny, or when riding with friends and we are all screwing around throwing dirt and stuff up everywhere, kept it off my goggles.
I mean, sure, If I end up being that crazy conscious about weight and wind-flow I suppose I can remove it, no biggie. But seems like when riding trails or in muddy conditions they would be more than helpful, especially if riding with friends, where stuff could come off of their tires.

A lot of BMX vert riders remove their visor on their full face. For vert, especially indoor, they aren't really necessary, and can actually block the view of the lip when hitting the transition. Some guys leave them on, but it makes me wonder if that's more of a sponsor thing. It's a trip when I see BMX'ers on vert blasting 14 ft. airs from the top of the lip with only a park helmet on. Yikes!